Continue to be baffled by authors who don't think books are political. Like, do you even know...books?? Or, the history of reading? Reading is political, too, and the choices you make about what you read or write are not made in a vacuum.
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I know it can be tiring for people but it's sad to me that people desperately want to be "apolitical." As someone engaged with politics (at volunteering level), it's so baffling why there is so much stigma towards being engaged!
My co-author and I set out to NOT write a political or politicized parenting book about teen boys - we wanted it to appeal to as wide a population as possible- but we also went in knowing that if our values are reflected, it is naturally going to be political.
Acknowledging the reality of racism is political, just like:
teaching boys to prioritize emotional health
acknowledging that trans kids exist (& deserve parental love & acceptance)
comprehensive sex & health education
disassembling sexism
authoritative instead of authoritarian parenting
I think some books are not political if you only engage at the most surface level. But if you are only engaging at the most surface level, are you even really reading?
Politics, opinions, emotional positions, ways of reasoning... There is no way to hide this in the world you create. There is a part of you in every element of that world.
The people who think books are not political are the people who have no need to see themselves as political, because they are the default political demographic. They've never been confronted by the fact that politics is always personal to somebody.
Truth. I’m writing 2 that are absolutely political even though they are fiction. And yes writing 2 at once is nuts but my characters keep fighting me when I try to pick one.
Saying books need to stop being political is like saying Green Day needs to stop being political. Both have always been, and will always be, political.
Everything is political, I really don't understand this. I mean if anyone has read 1984 by George Orwell, how on earth can they say that book isn't political? It's nothing but politics, I read The Road To Wigan Pier and believe me that's political.
There were rules to who could read what. There were underground groups that published illegally. There were secret networks to distribute these books. All of this because of the very political nature of books. And fear.
Even now many books are banned because they present different political views.
I get it when people mean overtly political. However more often that not whenever I hear "XYZ shouldn't be political" it always seems to be the same people complaining about the same "politics" (I can't really do sarcasm well online I'm saying its fashies complaining about being told fascism is bad)
I'm baffled by that and people who are not involved in politics. Almost every part of our lives is political, including what we eat. The FDA and USDA may not be perfect, but it is better than no food safety.
The quiet part we aren't allowed to say outloud is that there's entire classes of people born into privilege who believe the rest of humanity is born to serve them. That the country went to crap since the serfs got uppity & demand liveable wages, etc.
My wife is a veterinarian. She's recommending that everyone who is able, purchase frozen meat for at least a year, from a reputable company in your area that is locally sourced. When Trump guts the FDA and EPA, food borne illnesses will occur.
I live in a climate where it's not possible for me to grow enough food to feed my family all year. I already grow beans, squash, cucumbers, onions, carrots, and a wide variety of greens and herbs, and it provides about a quarter of our vegetable needs with meat.
My family also has dietary restrictions related to certain plants. My wife can't eat any nightshades, for example. The amount of work that would go into creating a healthy vegetarian diet within those restrictions is more than we can manage.
Been a veggie gardener until this year. I switch it to a flower garden. I thought ill stop forever but i changed my mind. Im planting veggies again in the spring.
I was in a lecture the other day where the professor spoke about "smugglers" as part of the 'communication cycle' of a novel... People literally willing to SMUGGLE books into countries. It was insane to me. I loved it.
One of my favorite books “The Once and Future King” by TH White, helped shape my outlook on politics, different styles of government and how hard it is to govern justly when the people have become irrational. I still re read that book. Discovered it at age 15. I’m now 64.
I can trace my world view to a sci fi book I read when I was 13. That view has been informed, challenged and enlarged upon by every single book I have read since then.
I like using Frankenstein as an example of how literature also makes you question scientific ethics, and which character was actually the monster. Books reflect our world and encompass everything, including politics.
Critical thinking, or a lack thereof, is how we ended up where we are now.
This but also with games, some ppl get annoyed that modern games are too "political" and we should go back to the olden days when games weren't political, and they proceed to point at games like metal gear as "non-political", like, did we play the same game???
Of course what I write isn't made in a vacuum. That would suck. Oh, and you can read my short clean comedy book for free. It is online at the following link. https://bloggingisntforcowards.blogspot.com/
Veryyy interesting conversation I’m seeing all over TikTok. I have not yet read a bestselling fantasy without at least some political plot points. Harry Potter had the Ministry of Magic. Even Twilight had the Volturi!
I really love the people who say things like, "Keep politics out of" some particular genre of media, but especially science-fiction. Like, they should really learn *how* to read.
Rereading Fahrenheit 451 now and the little hints at the larger world are terrifying. Obviously banning books was a result of an oppressive world view.
Learning to read and having books was a privilege only monarchs, nobility, and religious orders had. It was a way to suppress the people by ignorance. If that's not political, I don't know what is. Today, we call it book banning
Oh wow, what are they even writing then? I remember picking up The Fountainhead off my moms shelf around 8 - I thought due to the name it's be funny. Joke was on me - it was not.
Anyway, hard agree, books are decidedly political.
Books per se are not political. But they ARE political in terms of teaching ways of thinking & acting. Picture books that teach equality & compassion are so important for young kids. They are political in the way that what we share with children has profound implications for their thinking.
Sharing books about voting rights will make even 2nd graders think. Sharing books about compassion to animals & others will make even preschoolers think. And that's the power of books. To make us think. And wonder. And experience new thoughts and ideaas.
It is impossible for an author to NOT inject their political and social leanings into their writing, just like how it's not possible for a reader to not gravitate to positions that appeal to them. Anyone who says otherwise is probably embarrassed by whatever they're writing/reading.
Reading a book in and of itself is a political statement. If reading wasn't political, they wouldn't ban books. Reading makes people think, and people who think for themselves are harder to oppress.
There are writers who serially believe that? Like, I’ve heard internet people talk like that but never actual authors. Damn. Never seen someone so completely misunderstand their own field before.
Any writing is political, it is best to admit it and see how it affects not just what you read or write but your relationships with other creative people
People who complain and say "why does everything have to be so political these days????" cannot name a single thing that's not somehow influenced by politics.
I think when people say that, what they mean is ....This is not the same as my view (which is 100 per cent correct) so I can dismiss as political / wrong
The most infuriating one, which was a movie, was Civil War. I listened to Alex Garland in an interview and just refused to say anything that was riding the fence. He refused to engage with politics at all which is weird for a guy making a movie about a modern day American civil war.
This is true. Books helped me change my political views starting in elementary school and as I write my fantasy book I find often social commentary is woven in.
Corollary: if you write a book that is purposefully unpolitical, you have written a bad book that will only be engaged with in the most shallow and unpersonal of ways.
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teaching boys to prioritize emotional health
acknowledging that trans kids exist (& deserve parental love & acceptance)
comprehensive sex & health education
disassembling sexism
authoritative instead of authoritarian parenting
Whether you want to call that politics or religion or by some other word.
Even tho we don’t agree on our “oughts,” we are all using the “oughts” framework.
Even now many books are banned because they present different political views.
That's why they want to "make it great again"
Critical thinking, or a lack thereof, is how we ended up where we are now.
https://bloggingisntforcowards.blogspot.com/
What does my reading Kaiju #8 say about my politics?
If reading weren't political they wouldn't keep trying to suppress it.
Anyway, hard agree, books are decidedly political.
Nor my other books on changeove/smed, liquid filling machines or buying machinery
This was my first post here, is there an edit post facility?